PRIMIR Releases Study on Non-Print Revenue in the Printing Industry

RESTON, VA—Nov. 13, 2012—In 2011, PRIMIR, the Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization, commissioned State Street Consultants and John Zarwan Partners, to research non-print revenue trends for printers. After interviewing a significant sample of commercial printers, digital imaging service firms, transactional printers, direct mail and specialty printers, researchers delivered a comprehensive study that identifies current trends and projects future opportunities for printers to grow their business through key non-print services.

In all, 26 non-print services were evaluated. Fulfillment and warehousing, mailing and design services are and will continue to be the top service offerings. By 2016, these three will account for approximately 65 percent of all non-print revenue growth.

Other key findings include:

$21.2 billion in non-print revenue in 2011,

$33.3 billion in non-print revenue by 2016,

132 percent growth rate for Wweb/Internet services from 2011to 2016,

86 percent growth rate for marketing services from 2011to 2016, and

83 percent growth rate for data management service from 2011to 2016.

“To thrive in the coming years, printers will have to move beyond print and the direction in which they move should be based on customers’ needs and the ability to leverage skills to satisfy those needs,” said Dave Costa, president of State Street Consultants. “For example, by 2016, PRIMIR’s study projects that mailing, fulfillment and warehousing and design services will continue to dominate but other non-print services will gain in importance including web/internet services which is projected to increase its revenue by 132 percent.”

According to State Street, total industry revenue was $156.5 billion in 2011; however, only 86.5 percent of that revenue was generated from actual printing— the balance was generated from a vast array of services print firms offer their clients today. The study identifies the most common non-print service offerings and benchmarks the revenue volume, types of non-print related services offered and forecasts trends through 2013.